Pneumonectomy

A pneumonectomy (new-muh-nek-tuh-mee) is surgery to open your chest wall to remove an entire lung, most often done for cancer of the lung that cannot be treated by removal of a smaller portion of the lung. You may need a pneumonectomy if you have a lung abscess (infection), lung cancer, or blebs from emphysema. A bleb is lung tissue that stretches like a balloon. These blebs press on the rest of the lung making it hard for you to breathe.